Bad week for Tom Foley

Neil Vigdorand Ken Dixon

Updated 11:04 pm, Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Tom Foley, the Greenwich Republican who’s exploring another run for governor in 2014, will pay more than $16,000 to a state agency for registering a political action committee in Delaware.
Photo: Cathy Zuraw

Republican Tom Foley sustained a double-whammy to his gubernatorial prospects Wednesday, with elections watchdogs announcing a five-figure "civil penalty" against the 2010 runner-up over an controversial political poll just as unseemly new details emerged about a decades-old arrest.

"This is what I call a skin-thickening week," Foley told Hearst Connecticut Newspapers. "This is what you expect when you come out of the box and you're the perceived frontrunner."

Foley's detractors, on the political left and right, pounced on the wealthy private equity manager from Greenwich and his previous efforts to promote ethics reform in state government.

"Somebody who was supposed to be so ethical, it turns out that he's not so ethical," said Nancy DiNardo, the state Democratic chairwoman.

The Republican nominee for governor in 2010 and former U.S. ambassador to Ireland under President George W. Bush, Foley agreed to a settlement of $16,104 with the state Elections Enforcement Commission over a poll commissioned in March by a Delaware-based 527-group that lists him as its treasurer.

The poll by Voters for Good Government surveyed 500 likely Connecticut voters about the standing of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a first-term Democrat who Foley lost to by 6,500 votes in 2010.

Voters for Good Government will pay $15,504 of the total settlement to the state, with the balance shouldered by Foley, who will reimburse the 527-group for the poll.

Election watchdogs contend that the poll was political in nature and that Foley, who just recently filed exploratory paperwork for statewide office, was acting as a candidate. They released their findings Wednesday in a report by Kevin Ahern, a lawyer for the SEEC.

"These items were promotional of a Foley candidacy and as such were deemed to be made for the purpose of influencing Mr. Foley's nomination for election to public office," Ahern said. "This act automatically triggered Mr. Foley's candidacy for public office. It was incumbent upon Mr. Foley to register as a candidate with the commission and begin to file periodic reports of his campaign's financial activity."

Foley took great pains to characterize the outcome of the SEEC investigation as a settlement, saying that he could have challenged the agency's definition of political activity in the courts.

"It's not a fine," Foley said. "There were no violations."

Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, of Fairfield, the highest-profile Republican to formally enter the race for governor, said Wednesday that Foley should fully discuss the issue publicly.

"The state of Connecticut needs new leadership and the Republican Party needs to put forward a candidate strong enough to defeat Gov. Malloy and help turn our state around," McKinney said in a statement. "This violation of state elections laws as referenced in the stipulated agreement is a serious matter. The facts in the agreement also raise many new questions from what was previously reported that need to be answered. Ambassador Foley should step forward and publicly answer any and all questions."

At the same time the commission meted out what Ahern described as a "civil penalty," Foley found himself answering awkward questions about his 1981 arrest on a first-degree attempted assault charge in Southampton, N.Y. The charge, which was eventually dropped, stemmed from a motor vehicle accident that Foley described as a minor fender bender during the 2010 governor's race.

Foley's account of the incident conflicts with a police report, recently obtained by the Hartford Courant, which stated that Foley rammed his Toyota Land Cruiser into the back of a Mercury sedan carrying five people on Montauk Highway after attending a party.

"Obviously, they had a different version of the events," Foley said. "This is old news. I'm not going to go over it again. I've been very clear about this from the start. Let's talk about how we're going to get Connecticut headed back in the right direction."

The driver of the other car involved in the incident was Michael Howe, of Greenwich, who told the Courant that the altercation with Foley was "frightening." A message left at Howe's home Wednesday by Hearst Connecticut Newspapers was not returned.

A copy of the police report -- requested by Hearst under the Freedom of Information Act -- was not immediately available from police in Southampton.

In 1993, Foley and his first wife were both charged with breach of peace following a child custody dispute in which he pursued his estranged spouse by car in Greenwich. The charges in that case were also dropped. No records of the incident, one in which Foley previously denied he tried to run his wife off the road, were found when requested by the newspaper.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton and state Sen. Toni Boucher, of Wilton, who are exploring a run for governor like Foley, called for transparency from their fellow Republican in the wake of his two latest setbacks.

"Absolutely, they're troubling," Boughton said. "First, we've had discrepancies about what actually happened that evening regarding the accident out in the Hamptons. I have to think that's one of the largest fines ever to come out of the SEEC."

Said Boucher, "He's the only one who can speak for himself on those issues."

A message seeking comment from Malloy, who National Public Radio listed as one of the most vulnerable governors up for re-election, was not returned.

DiNardo, the state's top Democrat, said Foley's past is catching up with him.

"He is right that it's about the jobs and the economy, but this goes to the character of the person," DiNardo said of Foley's arrest. "He lied repeatedly about it. Of course he says it's a non-story because he's been caught in a lie again. I think we see it's a pattern with him."

State GOP Chairman Jerry Labriola Jr. sees the tide of negative press for Foley as part of the ebb and flow of all campaigns.

"This is part of the vetting process, and it's important to get things sorted out now, seven months before our nominating convention," Labriola said. "We are fortunate to have such a strong field of candidates for governor, and each will experience ups and downs during the coming months. Ultimately, our strongest candidate will emerge and I will work to unite our party behind that candidate so that we can take the fight to Malloy at the earliest opportunity."